Farewell January!

Kassy and Delaney treated me to birthday doughnuts before
we headed into the sanctuary to paint the walls.

Can it be the end of January already? Wasn't it just a week or so ago that we rang in the new year? It was a somewhat busy month. Between photos and helping with Church renovations I definitely was out of the house more than [my] normal.

The painting of the sanctuary was fast, took us 5 half days and it got done. It was thanks to a great group of people (I was terrified that it would just be Kassy and me). It's a lot less WHITE and has a little color and warmth in the walls now.

Our next project is to organize the church offices. We've already had a lot of fun with the shredder. And it's neat finding all of the old church photos and such. So much history. It will be interesting to put it all together.

My birthday was good. We celebrated a night early because it was MLK day and originally my mom's bff and her hubby were coming over. They couldn't make it, but we still had Kassy and Delaney over and we had prime rib and my favorite sides. And pumpkin pie for dessert. Delaney spent most of the evening in my room watching Disney Jr. but came out every now and again to entertain. She's a hoot.

On my actual birthday I was at the church painting, but Delaney made sure to sing me happy birthday and had me blow out my candles. It was low-key and that made it better than most. Oh, yeah, and they treated me to McDonald's for lunch. LOL

The rest of the month I've just been doing stuff online and photos. I'm hoping things pick up soon or I will be seriously job hunting. Don't really like that sound of it, but I have to do something to get the bank account back up to where I like it.

This is just a little random update into my life. Next comes dog mushing and Olympics posts I'm sure.

Are we sure it's still January?

There should have been sled dog events happening in the state of Alaska this weekend. There should have been a more wintery feel to the Peninsula WINTER games this weekend. There should, at the very least, be pristine white snow lining the roads, ditches, and mountains of South Central Alaska.

But none of that happened. Are we sure it's January?

Now, before I hear the "global warming" mantra, let's remember that while it's not a regular occurance Chinook winds and warm weather do happen. With the Lower 48 seeing record low temperatures, it's actually understandable that we're in the mid to upper 40s every day (and night) in Alaska. Yes, the Globe is Warm. No, there's really no need to panic.

There is a need to worry, however. The Iditarod Sled Dog Race, set to start on March 1, could see a drastic change in trail. The only other time this happened was in 2003 when the Anchorage and Willow trails were non existent due to lack of snow. If the start moves further North it will most likely happen from Fairbanks. They've run it from there before (again, 2003). It gives a new audience for the start, but it shortens the race. But, it works in a pinch.

That is, if there's snow and trail to be had come March in the Interior of Alaska.

The Tustumena 200 made the announcement Monday that there would be no race this year. The race was set to go on February 2, but with the warm weather trail reports were dismal. Ice and flooding caused the directors to call off the race. This was to be the 40th running of the T200, and it boasted an impressive roster for both the 200 and 100 mile races. The purse was at an all time high. This was going to be the best race yet.

And, now, like most of Alaska's winter, it's washed away.

Things could turn around. There's a lot of "winter months" left on the calendar for the season. While the rest of the USA "freezes", we're contemplating breaking out our tanks and shorts. It's amusing, and sad, all at the same time.

Why Ashley Wagner deserves her spot on the US Olympic Team

Ashley Wagner placed 4th at the US National Championships
this weekend in Boston. (Reuters photo.) 

US figure skating fans found themselves in one of two camps Sunday when the USFSA announced the ladies team for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games set to take place next month in Sochi, Russia. Two time and defending National Champion Ashley Wagner was the topic on everyone's lips. Wagner, having placed fourth in Saturday's ladies finals, was named to the team over third place (and former National Champion) Mirai Nagasu.

Fans, skaters, and sports analysts have all chimed in with how they feel about the decision announced Sunday on who would represent the USA in the games. Former top ranked US skaters and coaches have battled it out with fans and others of the "in crowd" on social media for the better part of Sunday - overshadowing the Men's long program event - many voicing their concern for Mirai's feelings while negating Wagner's.

Four years ago Mirai Nagasu made the Olympic team, narrowly beating Ashley Wagner for the second of two spots. Wagner was devastated to miss out on the Vancouver games and spent the last four years working consistently to better her skating and position on the world stage. That work seemed to be paying off with the two wins at Nationals coupled by her improved International standing. It was Wagner along with teammate Gracie Gold (who won the Championship on Saturday) who regained the three spots leading up to the Sochi Games.

Meanwhile, Mirai saw waning success after a 4th place at the Vancouver Olympics. Mirai's last try at the World Championships was in 2010 and saw her land in 7th place. She's struggled with a very up and down career since then, managing 3rd in 2011 and 7th in both 2012 and 2013 at the US nationals. She managed a couple of medals in the last four years in the Grand Prix series - in events where most of the top world contenders were not present and she was favored to take the title.

Mirai has seen her own sent of controversy when her former coach, the legendary Frank Carroll called her out for her [lack of] work ethic. Nagasu is an expert twitter-er, and would call out fans who even suggested criticism of her programs or skating. After coach hopping, Mirai spent the current season without a coach all the way to Nationals.

Part of Nagasu's problems with her skating is her lack of ability to rotate fully in her jumps, which in turn forces judges to downgrade them to easier levels and fewer points.

The USFSA traditionally goes with the skaters who land on the podium at nationals when choosing their Olympic and World team, but the rules clearly state that US Nationals is not the only determining factor for the team. This is the reason Ashley was chosen over Mirai.

From late 2011 till now Ashley Wagner has been the frontrunner of American Ladies skating. She won her national titles in 2012 and 2013 - though some would argue she was gifted in 2013, medaled on the Grand Prix Series as well as the Final, and in 2012 she was 4th at Worlds. Nationals was the time she truly faltered. While it is true that she does not seem capable of winning the Olympics, she has - so far - shown to be the only USA lady even close to medaling at all in Sochi. She sees the bigger picture of team play, and that, too, went in her favor.

Yes, it is sad that Mirai has been left off. If we want to judge just by international experience and results she should be on and US Silver Medalist Polina Edmunds should be the one off the team. That teams have traditionally been who makes the top of the podium is not and should not be the reason why Ashley should be left from the team. Why should any team shoot itself in the foot by leaving one of their more consistent skaters at home because of an off night?

Mirai has done herself no favors be alienating the powers that be in the past. Ashley does not "toe the party line" but she has demonstrated that she is serious and willing to work for her goals. She has great packaging, and an even better support team. Mirai has... Mirai. No coach, because she either fires them or they fire her. The most controversy Ashley can come up with is her stance on Russia's Anti-Gay Laws. Not something that will come in play on the ice.

It could very well be that Gracie Gold continues the upswing and becomes the American Media Darling by being the highest ranked US lady at the Olympics. Polina could also deliver. There's not a lot of evidence to suggest they will, but there's more evidence against Mirai than there is against any of the three on the ladies team. Ashley Wagner may not have earned it "that night" but she's earned it "overall".

All she has to do now is shake it off and forge ahead. She's done that before, and her body of work suggests she'll do it again.

Disneyland in 250 Days

Dealing with a countdown to DisneyLAND can be so frustrating. There isn't as much planning to do for a SoCal adventure compared to when one goes to Disney World. Reservations for hotel have been made, we're staying at the Peacock Suites (you may recognize that hotel as the one I've stayed at when going to DLR with Haille Rae and family) and I wanted to make sure that we could get one of the two bedroom suites. If there's one thing that bugs me about Peacock is the round about way they do their responses to any emails you might send them asking for information. They are partnered with Shell Vacations and so their emails all go to an office elsewhere. So they give very generic answers, or tell you to call the hotel directly. One of the reasons I email questions is so I don't have to call.


But it's a minor complaint, and I'm very excited to be staying there again.


Now it's just a wait to book the rest. Airfare this spring. Special meal reservations to be booked in June or July (along with the photopass+). Not a lot of planning involved. We'll have 5 days in Disneyland, 1 at the beach and hollywood, 1 for universal studios, and 1 for the San Diego Zoo.


So until then I just gotta keep myself busy. Which shouldn't be a problem with the Olympics in something like three weeks? and then the Iditarod in March.

New Year, New Outlook

Well, so much for blogging in 2013. If you followed me on facebook you know it was, overall, a horrible year. I can definitely say that depression followed me around and I know I not only annoyed people but pushed them away. I may have had time to post (a lot) on facebook, but I had no desire to blog about anything.

Disney World with Mom and Dad was a blast - though October was horribly humid. I've decided I'm sticking to November as my favorite time to go. The crowds were awful as well. But we made do and mom and dad are still talking about all the fun they had. I could blog about it all... but I think this blog just needs to start over. In the coming days I hope to get motivated to get to changing a few things.

Really the year was rather lackluster - though there were some highlights. Meeting friends and reuniting with old ones. However it seems that it was more bad than good when talking about highs and lows. I pray that 2014 will be better.

Which leads to the New Outlook. I want to get off my duff and really buckle down and make life goals and decisions and work towards them instead of being so ambivalent about the whole thing. We'll see how that goes.

For January I want to downsize some of the things I really don't ever use (VHS tapes are the first thing to go, followed by books that I no longer read/need to hold onto). I'm going to do month by month. It makes it a better goal making thing for me.

These are not resolutions, btw. I don't believe in doing those.

Also on the Horizon is the Dorktwins 30th birthday trip to Disneyland! Erin's husband is coming along and I invited my friend from Buffalo, Aimee to come as she has the same bdate as Erin. It's going to be a blast and I'm already doing more planning on it than I really need to so soon. But I can't help myself.

This is the last year of my 20s (turning 29 this month!), I want to enter my 30s on a positive note!

Sorry, it's been a while.

Just when I got back onto a blogging schedule life took some drastic and in many ways painful turns. Some I am not allowed to discuss in public - though I really want to - and involves family. I've lost my photo studio - through no fault of my own, and only due to said family. And my precious pug Yuka passed on while I was in Montana.

And, no, I don't want to talk about that last one. It's still too raw. I love that little girl. She was and still is my heart.

Needless to say, 2013 has been the worst on record - and I've had some doozies in the last few years. I have stopped the cooking countdown - though we THREE are still going to Walt Disney World in October. In fact, we just hit the double digits today. 99 Days until my break from reality! I am hoping that some healing can happen while we are down there.

Erin and Wess' wedding back in May was fantastic. I enjoyed getting to meet the man who stole my beastie from me (hee hee) and they were so great and understanding while I dealt with my not being there for my puggy girl at the end. I have so many stories I could share. The best one being the night that we three went to Missoula for the evening and while at dinner Erin went to use the restroom and our waiter (not knowing/realizing there were 3 of us total) thought Wess and I were on a date. No matter how much we hinted that we were not a couple he didn't get it. That is, he didn't get it until Erin came back. The look on his face was priceless.

It really broke the ice between Wess and me and I even suggested that Wess come with on our Disney trip next year. (Disneyland September of 2014!) It'll be his very first time to Disney. He has NO idea what he's getting into! *cue evil laugh*

I'm typing this on my laptop that is trying to die on me. I went and bought a used computer from the school district today and will be transferring all of my photo programs onto that system to hopefully give this laptop a break. I'll use this strictly for internet stuff. For the time being. I need to find someone who will take a look and hopefully fix whatever is going on with this thing.

So that's a brief update from the last few months. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon. If for no other reason than to help my sanity.

A Tasteful Countdown: The Great Mouse Detective

Cooking with oil I'm so brave!

We have hopefully finished our jaunt through the English recipes. The final Brit movie has been watched in the form of the Great Mouse Detective. For this I decided on Fish and Chips for Mom and Dad and Clucks and Fries for me. I didn't bake them, either, they were battered and fried. That's right I did the oil. Not mom, not dad, me! But I waited to cook with oil until after they were home. I still need my "spotter" incase something goes wrong.

Because of mom's gluten intolerance, I found a batter that could be used that would hopefully taste good and not involve a gluten flour. A quick internet search came up with a batter that is really quite tasty! We did both the chicken and fish (halibut) in the batter. Next time I will tweak it slightly for the chicken as dillweed was a little odd to have with ketchup and chicken. That could just be me, though.

Fish & Chips for dinner. Gluten free and yummy.

The fries were a recipe I've been wanting to try for several years now. When Olympic Champion Brian Boitano had his show on the Food Network, he did an episode with twice fried french fries. I've been wanting to try them ever since. I wasn't sure if they would go with the fish, so I tweeted Boitano and he answered with a "yes!" so I took that as a sign to make Brian's "Pimp My Fries".

Everything came together easily, but the oil kept cooling way down so it took longer to make dinner than I anticipated. We didn't sit down to dinner until 8pm! Yikes! But it was well worth it because the food was delish! I had made dad a spicy tartar sauce for his fish - and he practically licked the bowl clean.

There were no leftovers!

For desert, I made mini lemon pound cakes. Dad's request. No glaze or compote. Just cake for dad. He took the rest to his men's group at church on Saturday. They made short work of it all.

All in all another successful meal. I'm getting good at this! With the Iditarod this weekend, I'm busy but we're still doing a movie meal. But it's going to be gourmet hotdogs for Oliver & Company.

Next time, no dillweed for the chicken.

recipes:
GF Batter for fish - http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1617,128187-252192,00.html
Spicy Tartar sauce - http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/other-sauce-spread/spicy-tarter-sauce.html
Pimp My Fries - http://www.brianboitano.com/recipes-pimp-my-fries.shtml
Lemon Pound Cake - http://www.simply-gourmet.com/2012/08/187-lemon-pound-cake-with-cherries.html